The Butcher: Difference between revisions

[[File:briss.jpg|link=The League of Gentlemen|frame|Try the 'Special Stuff'.]]

 

 

Want to make sure everyone knows exactly how bad your [[Badass]] is? Or how crazy your [[Ax Crazy]] gets? Add "The Butcher" onto his name. Butchers hack up meat all day and are always surrounded by blood and gore, so they must be [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|violent, scary people]], right? You'll certainly never see "The Baker" or "The Candlestick Maker" used this way, we guarantee.

[[Sub-Trope]] of [[The Magnificent]]. Compare [[Badass Nickname]].

 

{{examples}}

== Fictional examples used straight ==

* Remi Rome from ''[[100 Bullets]]'' who is also works at a meat packing factory.

* [[Jack Chick]] uses this, with the titular character in [http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0013/0013_01.asp Gomez Is Coming]. "Hey, Ricky! Guess how Gomez got named, 'The Butcher.' Because he LOVES to slowly torture his victims until they die!"

* [[The DCU]] has a minor [[Anti-Hero]], created during the 90s [[Dork Age]], called the Butcher.

* The Rage Entity of [[The DCU]] is also named Butcher. As if being the giant bull-like embodiment of [[Unstoppable Rage]] wasn't obvious enough.

**In the, er, more "interesting" times of Emperor Dorca's reign, Dorca's chief general was named La'Sanguinare(Bloody). And yes he went to a lot of work earning the title, though a lot of his targets clearly had it coming to them.

* Dirk Provin, the protagonist of Jennifer Fallon's ''Second Sons'' trilogy acquired the nickname 'The Butcher of Elcast'. This was the result of being given credit for the Lion of Senet's scheme to pressurize an enemy by executing people at random until the man gave in, and was a case of twisting Dirk's words. The reputation sticks with him and he had at times to take advantage of it, as well as crafting a ruthless persona. It should be noted he was barely 16 when he acquired the name.

* In the ''[[Flora Segunda]]'' books, an important figure in the setting's history is called the Butcher Brakespeare. Let it be noted that this trope is ''not'', in fact, '''[[Always Male|Always]]''' Male; the details establish the Butcher as a legendary [[Fiery Redhead]]ed [[Lady of War]] [[Whip It Good|with a whip.]]

** She's really more of a [[Cute Bruiser]], as she very much lacks the grace and elegance associated with a [[Lady of War]].

** And now he's back in ''[[Diablo III]]'', as the boss of Act I. He's got new abilities too, such as a meat hook to grab you, a charge move, and others. Not to mention that the floor in his arena periodically catches fire...

* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' itself has many bosses with this title:

** The insane Hannval the Butcher in Stormhelm a cleaver and meathook wielding vykrul who even says "Aah, fresh meat!" when pulled. This, of course, was a deliberate shout out to the guy in ''Diablo''.

** There's a boss in [[Academy of Evil| Scholomance]] nicknamed "The Butcher," his real name is Theolen Krastinov. [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|You know when a doctor is referred to by this title, he's absolutely not a nice guy.]]

== Fictional examples used ironically ==

=== [[Literature]] ===

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s ''Barrayar'' books, Aral Vorkosigan earns the name "The Butcher of Komarr" for supposedly having ordered the massacre of two hundred strong Komarran Senate after they surrendered on terms during the Conquest of Komarr. In fact, he had nothing to do with it and it was the sort of military behavior he abhorred. However, he was in charge at the time, so he got blamed despite killing the officer who gave the order on the spot with his bare hands—plus his political enemies kept saying there had been "secret orders", a rumor he found it impossible to disprove.

* In Dan Simmons' ''[[Hyperion]] Cantos'', Colonel Fedmahn Kassad is known as "The Butcher of South Bressia." This is a backhanded compliment acknowledging that Kassad, something of an "ultimate soldier" figure, accomplished a military feat thought to be impossible—but that he had to stack the bodies of both his own forces and the enemy to the ceiling in order to do it.

=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' module ''The Tomb of Haggemoth'' features Lord Frohman, The Butcher of Skago, who turns out to be, in fact, a wealthy merchant well known for the quality of his meats.

 

=== [[Video Games]] ===

* One of ''[[Dead Rising]]'''s bosses, Larry, is an actual butcher who worked for the mall's grocery store before all hell broke loose and he, like a good amount of the other survivors of the zombie outbreak, went criminally insane. He isn't outright homicidal as his title would suggest and is disturbingly cheerful and friendly when he views Frank as a "customer", but he's gone obsessed with his job and is encountered after he's caught hunting for new "meat" wherever he can get it {{spoiler|and finding it in the form of the injured [[Big Bad]]}}. Since zombie meat comes rotten, [[I'm a Humanitarian|he's eager to serve humans to humans]].

* One of the Cie'th missions of ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' has you going after "Zenobia The Butcher". When you get to the location, the large, particularily abominable Cie'th pops out and begins advancing at your party... Only to be taken out by a [[Mascot Mook|To]][[Boss in Mooks Clothing|nb]][[Killer Rabbit|er]][[Oh Crap|ry]], the ''real'' Butcher.

 

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

=== [[Film]] ===

* Bill "the Butcher" Cutting in ''[[Gangs of New York]]'' is based on Bill "the Butcher" Poole, a real gang-leader of the era and a butcher by trade.

 

=== [[Literature]] ===

* "The Butcher of Riga"- Edward Roschmann, Nazi War Criminal, antagonist of ''[[The Odessa File]]''.

 

* "The Butcher of the Somme" -- Field Marshal Haig, who appears in ''[[Blackadder]]''. So named by his own men because of his willingness to [[We Have Reserves|sacrifice countless troops]] in order to achieve a minute gain in territory. It should be noted that several historians have made a good case that his reputation as a heartless butcher is a [[Historical Villain Upgrade|serious distortion of the actual facts]].

** Though [[Your Mileage May Vary|others]] say it's ''too generous''.

* [[wikipedia:Banastre Tarleton|Banastre Tarleton]], British Colonel (later General) of the [[The American Revolution]], who was called both "The Butcher" and "Bloody Ban" for his slaughter of Contentinal soldiers coming to surrender to him. The Americans were quick to lob this back at the Brits, using the cry of "Tarleton's quarter!" to mean "take no prisoners". He appeared in an number of American Revolution tales like Disney's The Swamp Fox and as part of the composite Tavington character in the movie ''[[The Patriot]]''.

 

== Other Real Life examples ==

=== [[Film]] ===

* In ''[[Rustlers' Rhapsody]]'', Peter (the sidekick) tells Rex (the hero) that the hired gun the bad guys are sicking on him is named Bob Barber. This sounds odd to Rex. "Just Bob? Not Bad Bob Barber? Bothersome Bob Barber? Bob the Butcher Barber?"

 

=== [[Literature]] ===

* ''[[The Hunting of the Snark]]'': He came as a Butcher, but gravely declared/ When the ship had been sailing a week/ He could only kill Beavers, the [[Bell Man]] looked scared/ And was almost too frightened to speak.

 

* In the ''[[3rd Rock from the Sun]]'' episode "Dick the Mouth Solomon," the guy Sally's dating is called Sammy "The Butcher" Marchetti. She and the rest of the family assume he's a hitman and so all start acting like characters out of a Mafia movie. Sally's relieved and Tommy's disappointed to learn that Sammy is simply an ''actual'' butcher.

* Also in ''[[Porridge]]'', Fletch warns Godber that another prisoner is "The Butcher of Eastgate".(Or somewhere. I can't remember exactly)

{{quote|Godber: (nervously) "So what did he do?"

Fletch: "Fiddled the VAT on his sausages." }}

 

=== [[Music]] ===

* Andy Mrotek, drummer for The Academy Is..., has the nickname "The Butcher."

* Roy Brown's "Butcher Pete", about a man who loves to "chop up the ladies' meat." The implication is sexual, but the actual lyrics make it sound very much like "Pete" is a serial killer.

 

=== [[Video Games]] ===

* In the ''[[Commandos]]'' series, the Green Beret (the main playable character) is nicknamed "the Butcher", not because of sociopathic or bloodythirsty tendencies, but because he uses a [[Knife Nut|knife]] as his weapon of choice.

 

=== [[Web Original]] ===

* [http://dominic-marco.deviantart.com/art/Butcher-Baker-etc-118425299 This picture defies the above description.]

 

=== [[Western Animation]] ===

* The PBS superhero ''[[Word Girl]]'' has a villain called The Butcher. He wears an old-fashioned butcher's uniform, has some sort of giant cut of meat strapped to his back, and has meat-themed powers. This character is actually a subversion. He creates meat products with his powers, so there's no slaughter implied. He's also dumb, not scary at all.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Always Male]]

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]

[[Category:Villains]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butcher, The}}